Leaf-tobacco-cutting machine.



H. ROSENTHAL.

LEAF TOBACCO CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATI ON FILED AUG-5,1911.

Patented July 20, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

' froew/af. A e/md zzsezez'z fa/ afforngy H. ROSENTHAL. LEAF TOBACCO CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.5| 191].

Patented July 20, 1915,

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

)Lumum FLANOGRAPH c0., WASHINGTON, D. c.

H. ROSENTHAL.

LEAF TOBACCO CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.5. 19H.

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0., WASHINGTON, D. c

H. ROSENTHAL.

LEAF TOBACCO CUTTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG-5,1911.

1,147,342. Pa Jtented July 20, 1915.

I 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

.UNITEST HERMAN BOSENTHAL, on 'Yo' xEn's, NEW Y RK.

LnAF-ToBAoco-cu'r'rms MACHINE.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HERMAN RosnNTHAL,

a citizen of the United States of America,

residing at Yonkers, Westchester county, in

, the State of New York, have invented cer- Figure l is a diagrammatic plan view of my improved devlce; Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of one of the roller arms, a

portion of the table being also shown, the

said table being broken awayto show some of the mechanism which forms part of my invention; Fig. 3 is an end view of my 1mproved device, broken awayto show the mechanism for depressing the roller arms;

' Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional detail view of one of the dies and suction block therefor,

' the section being taken on a line 41 in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a similar view, taken on a line 5-5 in Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is adiagrammatic view, similar to Fig. 5, illustrating the suction block lowered and tilted.

As herein embodied, my invention comprises a table A upon which are mounted a plurality of cutting dies 1, 2, 3, 4t, 5, 6, 7

and 8. The end dies 1, 4, 5 and 8 are designed for the cutting of binders. The dies 2, 3, 6 and 7 are designed to cut the wrappers'for cigars, and are of different sizes. It will, of course, be understood that the cutting outline of the various dies referred to may be of suitable configuration for the purposes intended. By referring to Figs .4

to 6 inclusive, it Will beseen that the (1188, all of which are operated alike, consist of come in contact therewith, I provide re- Specification of Letters Patent. Patented 1y 1915. Application filed August 5, 1911. SerialNol 642,456. r I 3 silient buffers 01' springs 12 (Figs. 4'to 6) which are placed within the boxes 10 and rest upon the table,-the-said springs being preferably secured, at one end thereof, to the said table, as can be seenin Fig. 6, the other end of said springs or bufi'ers being free to move. The cutting elements 9 "are preferably not secured to the'buifers, but merely rest thereupon. Consequently, they arefree to move downwardly, thereby compressing thebufiers, when the rollers 11, 11 strike them. The cutting elements 9,. due to the presence of the springs 12, are permitted to have a tilting movementywhen the rollers 11 or ll contact therewith, that is to say' at the initial contact betweenthe rollers and the cutting elements, the latter will firstbe depressed, causing the rollers to ride-up on the cutting edges of the elements-9-until a point centralof the length of the cutting elements is reached, after which the rollers will-depress the oppositecend portion of the cutting elements, causing the rollers to ride down on the cutting edges, until the rollers are free of contact with the cuttingedges, whereupon the springs will'return the'cutting elements to normal horizontal position. The other element of the dies comprises a suction box or pad 13, which is loosely fitted Within the cutting elements, and is free to be moveddownwardly at the proper time. The boxes or padsl3 are perforated as at 14 in order that the leaf of tobacco can be held upon the boxes, by the pressure ofthe atmosphere, during the cutting operation, a vacuum being produced within the said boxes by a suitable exhaust fan 15, (Fig. 3) or other suitable mechanism; It may be here stated that the edge 16 of the cutting elements is preferably flush with the top surface ofthe'. pads 13, the said edges being herein illustrated as extending slightly above the upper surfaces of the said boxes for the purposes.

of-a clear understanding of this element of my invention.

To cooperate with the dies for the pur- Y pose of cutting the tobacco, I employ the rollers 11, 11*, before referred to, which are rotatably mounted upon arms 17 and 18,

I respectively, which in turn are pivotally mounted, at one end thereof, upon a verticallymovable rod 19 (Fig. 2), a spring 20 being inserted between the hub 'of the arm 18 and the table A. To move the rod 19, I provide, in-this instance, a treadle 21 pivoted as at 22, and a beam or lever 23, pivoted as at 24, the said beam and ti'eadle being connected by a link 25. The free end of the lever or beam 23 is provided with a slot 26, in which a pin 27, carried by the rod 19, is adapted to fit. When the outer end of the treadle is depressed, the rod 19 will move downwardly, thereby compressing the spring 20 and also bringing the arms 17 and 18, and rollers 11, 11 carried thereby, to an operative position, which will hereinafter be described.

One of the greatest problems which confronts the cigar maker is to have the tobacco in the proper condition for working, that is to say, not too dry or too damp. If the leaf is too dry there is danger of breaking it, while handling; if it is too damp, it has to be dried. One of the chief features of my improvement is a device that will moisten a leaf that is too dry, or dry a leaf that is too damp, either of said processes being carried out while the leaf is being held upon the dies, by atmospheric pressure.

The device above referred to comprises a dry air supply or duct 28 (Fig. 2) and a water supply or tank 29, having connected thereto a duct 30, having a nozzle 31, the duct 28 being also provided with a nozzle 32. The nozzles 31 and 32 are placed close to gether to form a spraying device. To control the flow of dry air, I provide a suitable valve 33 in the duct 28, and to control the parent by an inspection of Figs. 1 and 2 that the ducts 28 and 30 are positioned to point in the direction of the dies, that is to say, the ducts 28 and 30 on the arm 17 point toward the dies 5 to 8, and the ducts 28 and 30 on the arm 18 point toward the dies 1 to 4. Dry air is forced through the ducts 28 from the blowing side of the fan 15, the fan being rotated in this instance by an electric motor 35, in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 3. The suction side of the fan 15 is connected by pipes 36 to the suction boxes 13, which are preferably armored rubber tubes that will give when the said boxes are tilted as shown in Fig. -'6.

By an inspection of Fig. 1, it will be apparent that the dies are in pairs, that is to say, the suction boxes of the dies 1, 8, 2, 7 3, 6, 4, 5 are each controlled by a common pipe 36, which in turn is connected at one end thereof to a T-fitting 37 (Fig. 2), which in turn is connected by pipes 38 to an automatic valve 39, each valve 39 (one only being shown in Fig. 2) being connected to its box 13 by a flexible pipe 40. To produce a vacuum in a box 13, a valve 39 is depressed by hand, thereby bringing the port 41 in alinement with the pipes. 38 and 40. The valve 39 is held down, when depressed by a latch 42. The latch 42is released by a roller 43, one on each arm 17v and 18 at the proper time, therebyall'owing a spring44 to force the valve 39 up and causing the air inlet port 45 to aline with the pipe 40, at which time the vacuum in the box 13 will be broken. The breaking of the vacuum occurs when a box 13 has been tilted or turned over to its full extent, as shown in Fig. 6 by dot and dash lines O, for the reason that when the roller 62 forces the plunger 48 downwardly, which action turns the die over, the roller 43 will contact with the catch 42, thereby releasing the stem of the valve 39, which will be forced upwardly by the spring 44, thus causing the port 45 in the valve to aline with the pipe 40, which will break the vacuum in the vacuum device.

To operate the boxes 13, I employ a special mechanism which is actuated by the arms 17 and 18. Each box 13 is provided with its own independent operating mechanism, which comprises a beam lever 46, pivoted as at 47 (Fig. 2), the said lever being actuated downwardly by a depressible plunger 48 and actuated upwardly by a spring 50. One end of the beam 46 is connected by a link 51 (see also Figs. 4 and 6) to its box 13, the other end of the said beam being provided with a rack pawl 52, which meshes with a ratchet gear 53 on a counter or cyclometer 54. The beam 46 also carries a short arm 55 which is, in turn, provided with a pawl 56, which actuates a ratchet gear 57 every time the beam 46 is depressed. At every complete revolution of the gear 57 a bell 58 is rung by means of a clapper or tongue 59, the said clapper being lifted by a pin 60 on the gear 57, when the said gear is about completing a revolution. After the pin 6O has cleared the short arm 61 of the clapper, the said clapper will fall and strike the bell. The function of the bell 58 is to sound an alarm when a predetermined number of wrappers or binders have been cut.

Should I desire to be informed every time one i hundred wrappers or fillers have been cut, I would supply a gear 57 having one hundred teeth. The gear 57 will advance one tooth, for instance, at each depression of a box 13, which occurs every time a leaf is cut.

62, which contact with and depress the said plungers just after a leaf has been completely out.

By referring to Figs. 4, 5 and 6, it will be seen that the suction box 13 is provided. at each end thereof with trunnions 63, which work in guides 64 in each end wall 65 of the openings 66 in the table A. The .side walls of the said opening are curved as at 67, the radial point of the said curves being coincident with the radial point of the lower end of the slot 64, the latter point being the pivotal point when the box 13 is tilted. It will also be seen by an inspection .of Fig. 5, that the point of connection of the links 51 and box 13 is slightly removed fro-m the position of the trunnions 63, which are centrally located. It will be quite obvious that the reason for this is to cause the box 13 to tilt after it has been carried down to the end of the slot 64. In order to cause the the bottom of the box. After the stop 69 has contacted with the box,-further upward movement of the beam 46 will force the box bodily upward until it reaches its normal position.

I will now proceed to describe the operation of my improved tobacco leaf cutting m achine. It may here be stated that I preferably arrange the dies, as illustrated in Fig. 1, for the sake of convenience, in other words, the dies when arranged as herein illustrated are more accessible, than if arranged in a continuous line, but they may be so arranged if desired. 7

Before cutting a leaf'of tobacco the operator will select such leaf or leaves having the proper color. After having selected the leaves he will place one of them upon a suitable die, 7 for instance. After having placed the leaf uponthe die he would press down a valve 39 until the latch 42 engages the head of the stem of the valve,thereby holding the said valve down, at which time port 41 will aline with the pipe 40, which places the suction box 13 in communication with the exhaust side of the fan 15. The leaf will now be held upon the die by the pressure of the atmosphere. Should the leaf be too dry he would move the arm 17 until the pipes 28 and 30 came in line with the said leaf. -After having done this, the operator would depress the valves 33 and 34, whereby water and air would be sprayed upon the leaf, thereby moistening the same. Should, however, the leaf be too-damp, he would press the valve 33 only,whereby dry air would be sprayed upon the leaf, thereby drying the same to the desired extent. After the leaf of tobacco has been properly prepared, the operator would depress the treadle 2-1 until the roller 11 comes in contact with and presses upon the leaf upon the die. After the roller hascontactedwith the die,

' a suitable receptacle.

theoperator moves the arm to cause the roller-to pass over. the face of the di -there- .by cutting out the leaf to conform to the At about the time that the roller leaves the rightend of the die, in this instance the die 7, the roller 62, on the shape of the die.

arm 17 will contact with the plunger 48.

depress the plunger 48, thereby forcing the arm 46 downwardly and moving the suction box 13 to the position indicated bythe dotted lines in Fig. 6. When the box 13 has reached the position indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 6, the trunnions 63thereon will have reached the bottom of the slots .64, and a little furthermovement of the arm 46' will cause the box 13? to tilt or turn over as indicated by the dot and dash lines D in Fig. 6. At about the time that the arm 46 has traveled sufficiently to tilt the box 13, the roller 43 will contact with and depress the outer end of thelatch 42, thereby moving the same out of contact withthe stem of the valve 39, at which time the spring 44 will force the valve upwardly, thereby-causing theport 45 to register with thepipe 40,

thereby admitting air to the box 13 and breaking the vacuum therein. When the vacuum in the box 13 has been broken, the leaf of tobacco will drop from the box into All of the dies are operated as above described. The arm 17 operates the dies 5 to 8 inclusive, while the arm 18. operates the dies 1 to 14 inclusive To prevent the links 51 from buckling, when the arm 46 forces the box .13 upwardly, I provide the lower link 51 with a stop D. It will be apparent that when the suctionboxes of my apparatus are tilted or turned over after the'wrapper or binder is cut, the

A little further movement of the arm will same will drop therefrom in a flattened condition and fall fiat, whereby wrinkling or buckling is obviated. i

- Having now described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Pat- Lent is z? 1. In a tobacco cutting machine, a cutting element, means for holding a leaf of tobacco on said cutting element, means for pressing said cutting element and the leaf thereon together, a liquid spraying means.

and a dry air supplying meansarrangedso that the discharge of each will be directed toward the leaf on said cutting element, the liquid spraying means and said dry air sup-- plying means being both carried by said pressing means, so as to move with the latter to permit the pressing and'spraying operations to be performed in a single movement of the pressing means. i a

2. In a tobacco cutting machine, a'cutting element, a vacuum device for holding a leaf of tobacco on said cutting element, an oscillatory device for pressingsaid cutting element and the leafthereontogether, aliquid spraying device, and a dry air supplying means arranged so that the discharge of each will be directed toward the leaf on said cutting element in advance of the pressing means, the liquid spraying means and said dry air supplying means being both carried by said pressing device, so as to move with the latter to permit the pressing and spraying operations to be performed in a single movement of the pressing means.

3. In a tobacco cutting machine, a resiliently mounted cutting element, a suction device adjacent said cutting element for holding the leaf of tobacco and being capable of movement away from said cutting element, an oscillatory arm, means carried by said arm for pressing the leaf against said cutting element, means carried by said arm for moving the leaf holding device away from said cutting element after the leaf has been cut, and means for breaking the vacuum in said suction device after said suction device has been moved away from said cutting device.

f. In a tobacco cutting machine, a cutting device, a vertically movable tiltable suction box within said cutting device, means for producing a vacuum in said box when a leaf of tobacco is placed thereupon, means for pressing a leaf against said cutting device, means for moving said suction box away from said cutting device after the leaf has been cut, means for tilting said box after it has been moved away from said cutting element, and means for breaking the vacuum in said box after said box has been tilted.

5. Ina tobacco cutting machine, a cutting device, a vertically movable suction box within said cutting device, means adapted to produce a vacuum in said box when a leaf of tobacco is placed thereupon, a radially movable arm, a roller carried by said arm adapted to press a leaf against said cutting device, means carried by said arm adapted to move said suction box away from said cutting device after a leaf has been cut, means adapted to tilt said box after it has been moved away from said cutting element, and means actuated by said arm, adapted to break the vacuum in said box after said box has been tilted.

6. In a tobacco cutting machine, a cutting device, a vertically movable suction box within said cutting device, means adapted to produce a vacuum in said box when a leaf of tobacco is placed thereupon, a radially movable arm, a roller carried by said arm adapted to press a leaf against said cutting device, means carried by said arm adapted to move said suction box away from said cutting device after a' leaf has been cut, means adapted to tilt said box after it has been moved away from said cutting element, means actuated by said arm, adapted to break the vacuum in said box after said box has beenv tilted, and a water spraying device and a dry air spraying device also carried by said arm.

7. In a tobacco cutting machine, an oscillatory arm common to all of the cutting devices, a plurality of cutting devices, means for holding a leaf of tobacco on said cutting devices, a water spraying device and a dry air spraying device, each carried by said arm, whereby said water and air spraying devices are capable of being directed toward any of said cutting devices.

8. In a tobacco cutting machine, a plurality of independent cutting dies, means for holding a leaf of tobacco on each of said dies, a movable pressingcdevice common to all of said dies arranged to press a leaf against the cutting element of said dies, and a spraying device carried by said pressing device, and movable therewith so as to spray the leaf before cutting thereof in a single operation of the pressing device.

9. In a tobacco cutting machine, a plurality of independent resiliently mounted cutting dies, means for holding a leaf of tobacco on each of said dies, amovable pressing device, common to all of said dies arranged to press a leaf against the cutting element of said dies, and a water spraying device and a dry air spraying device carried by said movable pressing device whereby the leaves of the various dies can be treated by a single movement of the pressing device.

10. In a tobacco cutting machine, a cut ting element, adapted for vertical movement, a'vacuum device including a support for a leaf of tobacco to hold the leaf in contact 'with said cutting element, an oscillatory arm, a pressing device carried by said arm for forcing a leaf of tobacco against said cutting element, means carried by said arm for breaking the vacuum in said leaf support after the leaf has been cut, and means also carried by said arm to move the leaf support away from said cutting element after the leaf has been cut.

11. In a tobacco cutting machine, a cut ting element, a vacuum device adjacent said cutting element including a support for a leaf of tobacco, means for forcing the leaf against said cutting element, means for causing the leaf support to travel downwardly and away from said cutting element after the leaf has been cut, means to tilt said leaf support at a predetermined point in its f downward movement, and means to break the vacuum in said leaf support after the latter has been tilted to its full extent.

12. In a tobacco cutting machine, a cutting element, a pressing device for pressing a leaf of tobacco against said cutting ele- :ment, a movable hollow support for holding a leaf in contact with said cutting element, an exhaust devlce in connection with said support, a valve 111 Sand connection, means for opening said valve, means carried by said pressing device for operating said valve to closed position and means also carried by said pressing device for moving said movable support away from said cutting element before said valve is closed.

13. In a tobacco cutting machine, a cutting element, means for pressing a leaf of tobacco against said cutting element, a pivotally mounted vacuum box for holding a leaf of tobacco against said cutting element, means operated by the pressing means to turn said vacuum box upon its pivots after the leaf has been cut and means to produce a vacuum in said box.

14:. In combination With a cutting element,

and means to press the tobacco into engagea the element until the center of the length of the cutting element is reached, and upon continued movement of said pressing means the latter Will depressthe opposite end of the cutting element. Signed at New York city, N. Y. this 2nd day of August, 1911.

HERMAN ROSENTHAL. Witnesses:

EDWARD A. JARVIS, MAomcn BLocx.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents, Washington, .D. G. 

